Folding board game tabletops

Years ago I decided that our 3ft square table wasn’t big enough to play board games on. I went through a couple of iterations of a removable topper before settling on using surface recessed sewing maching hinges.

this was a test of freehand routing to set the hinges.

These hinges allow the tabletop to fold up on itself for storage.

The table worked great for years but I never got round to finishing it. Raw plywood, even when sanded, gets dirty

left side is before sanding, right side is after sanding.

So when some friends expressed an interest in having me help them in making a similar table for themselves I decided that I would take the opportunity to finally finish mine. I also d cided to make a 6ft by 4ft topper for bigger games.

original topper, sanded and about to be stained

after stain

Max applying the first coat of polyurethane

in place, ready for games!

starting to set hinges on the 6ft by 4ft table

I put 4 hinges on the 6ft long version to help offset buckling

6 footer after stain

6ft tabletop all finished up and ready to use.

after 2 coats of poly

for my friends’ tabletop I sanded between the first and second coat of poly. I also added a third coat of poly for extra protection.